DISEASE OUTBREAK
What is Mad Cow Disease, what does BSE stand for and are outbreaks of it dangerous to humans?
BSE has been detected on a farm in Scotland for the first time in a decade
MAD cow disease - also known as Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - ravaged Britain's cattle herds in the 1990s when millions of livestock were slaughtered.
The killer disease spread to humans from infected beef, sparking widespread panic. And a new outbreak in Scotland shows it has not been eradicated.
3
What is mad cow disease and what does BSE stand for?
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a fatal degenerative brain disease in cattle, similar to scrapie in sheep.
It attacks the central nervous system - the brain and spinal cord - causing infected animals to lose muscle control.
They become unsteady on their feet and also become aggressive, nervous or frenzied - leading to the name "mad cow disease".
The exact cause is unknown but it is believed to be spread by prions, abnormally folded proteins which accumulate in the brain and kill nerve cells.
There was a major outbreak in the UK beginning in the late 1980s.
Ministers banned the practice of feeding cattle with bonemeal from other cows - the likely cause of the outbreak.
But the epidemic continued and peaked in the early 1990s when around 1,000 new cases a week were being recorded.
Officially around 180,000 cows were infected - but almost half a million more cows with the disease are likely to have ended up on dinner plates.
3
Brits began to fear eating burgers - leading to the famous moment agriculture minister John Selwyn Gummer fed one to his young daughter.
Some 4.4 million cattle were slaughtered during a nationwide eradication programme in the 90s.
The crisis led to a ban on British beef sales in the EU from 1996 to 2006.
France also had more than 300,000 cases of BSE, though its beef was never banned.
Much smaller outbreaks occurred in Germany, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Canada, the USA and Japan.
Recently there have been isolated outbreaks in the UK, including one case in Wales in 2015.
Is there a mad cow disease outbreak in Scotland?
A new case of BSE was reported at a farm in Aberdeenshire in October 2018.
It was confirmed after tests on a carcass.
It is the first case in the UK for three years and the first in Scotland for a decade.
Officials said there was no threat to humans.
Restrictions on moving animals are in place as an investigation into the outbreak continues.
The Scottish Government said: “This is standard procedure for a confirmed case of classical BSE, which does not represent a threat to human health."
Chief Veterinary Officer Sheila Voas said: "I would urge any farmer who has concerns to seek veterinary advice."
3
Can humans catch mad cow disease?
Scientists identified a new brain disease following the tragic death of Stephen Churchill, 19, in 1995.
They called it variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) and it appears to be caused by prions like BSE.
It causes hallucinations, behavioural changes, loss of coordination, blindness and twitching.
Patients will eventually be bedridden and unable to communicate, and will die of an infection or respiratory failure.
The most likely cause was identified as eating infected beef. An estimated 460,000 infected cattle entered the food chain.
In 1989 abattoirs were banned from letting "high-risk tissue" - including spinal cord, eyes, tonsils and intestines - be used as human food.
But lax controls meant such offal was still getting in with processed meat for another six years.
HEALTH Q&As
A total of 177 people in the UK have died from vCJD and around 50 elsewhere in the world.
The disease has a long incubation period - up to decades - so the true scope of the illness is not yet known.
At the height of the crisis in the 90s scientists warned half a million people could die.
But only one person has died from mad cow disease in Britain since 2012.
The prions can also be spread by blood transfusions, although there are only four known cases of this so far, .
Cure CJD Campaign video explains what Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is and a possible new treatment
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
Topics